Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Although most of Kostanjevica's historical sights are on the island, amenities are on the
mainland to the northwest or southeast.
PLETERJE MONASTERY
Located 10km southwest of Kostanjevica na Krki, the enormous
Pleterje Monastery
(Samostan Pleterje; 308
12 29;
www.kartuzija-pleterje.si
;
Drča 1; admission free; 7.30am-6pm)
belongs to the Carthusians, the strictest
of all monastic orders. The Gothic
Holy Trinity Church
(also called the Old Gothic Church or Stara Gotska
Cerkev), 250m up a linden-lined path from the car park, is the only part of the complex open to the general public.
There is a
multimedia display
(€4, including admission to the
skanzen
- an open-air museum displaying village ar-
chitecture) in a side chapel on Sunday. But the monastery's location in a narrow valley between slopes of the Gor-
janci Hills is so attractive and peaceful that it's worth a visit in any case. The
Pleterje Trail
(Pleterski Pot) is a 1½-
hour walk in the hills around the complex.
Pleterje was built in 1407 by the Counts of Celje. It was fortified with ramparts, towers and a moat during the
Turkish invasions, and all but abandoned during the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. The Carthusian or-
der, like all monastic communities in the Habsburg Empire, was abolished in 1784. When French Carthusian monks
returned in 1899, they rebuilt to the plans of the order's charterhouse at Nancy in France.
You may catch a glimpse of some of the white-hooded monks quietly going about their chores - they take a strict
vow of silence - or hear them singing their offices in the Gothic church at various times of the day. But the ubiquit-
ous signs reading
Klavzura - Vstop Prepovedan
(Seclusion - No Entry) and
Območnje Tišine
(Area of Silence) re-
mind visitors that everything apart from the church is off limits.
Above the ribbed main portal of the austere church (1420) is a fresco depicting Mary being crowned and the Trin-
ity. Inside, the rib-vaulted ceiling with its heraldic bosses and the carved stone niches by the simple stone altar are
worth a look, as is the medieval rood screen, the low wall across the aisle that separated members of the order from
laypeople.
There's a monastery
shop
( 7.30am-5.30pm Mon-Sat)
, where the monks sell some of their own products, in-
cluding packs of beeswax candles, honey, Cviček wine (€2.80 a litre) and various fruit brandies, including
hruška
(pear) which comes with a pear grown inside each bottle and then picked when ripe.
To the west of the monastery car park is the
Pleterje Open-Air Museum
(Muzej na Prostem; 041 639 191,
308 10 50;
www.skansen.si
; Drča 1; adult/child/family €2.50/1.90/7; 10am-6pm Wed-Sun Apr-Oct, 10am-4pm
Tue-Sat Nov-Mar)
, with thatched peasant houses, a pigsty, hayracks and even an outhouse - moved here from the
areas around Šentjernej. The
skanzen
also rents
bicycles
(per hour/day €3/10).
